Since early civilization realized the need to track the time of day, people have searched for new ways of telling time. Early known sun clocks made by the Egyptians were enormous obelisks that allowed users track the time of day by shadow. Other natural clocks such as water or sand timers emerged thereafter, but telling time was revolutionized when mechanical clocks were first invented, which was likely some time in the early 14th century. The clock or watch saw many embodiments, some large, and some small, but it was not until 1868 that Patek Philippe is credited with creating the first wristwatch. In the following years, the wristwatch quickly became a pervasive means of telling time.
Modern wristwatches can be of many types, including digital, mechanical, or atomic clocks. Additionally, many designs exist for different types of watch bands, each of which offer different functionalities. The most well known styles consist of two straps pin-connected to opposite sides of a timepiece, which extend around the wearer's wrist and connect with a buckle. These bands consist of materials ranging from rubber, to leather, to plastic, to metal, which particularly suffers from pinching skin or hair. Various other types of attachment from the band to the timepiece exist. Some include straps that slide through buckles integrated in the timepiece holder, allowing the timepiece to slide back and forth along the watch band. Some bands include a cover under which the timepiece sits, in order to provide protection for the timepiece. Still others are one-piece watches where the timepiece is physically integrated with the band, forming a permanent attachment.
Although these types of watch bands can be attractive and ornamental, they can be cumbersome to use because many wristwatch straps must be disengaged and reengaged to be placed on or removed from a user's wrist. Taking a watch on and off can be time consuming and cumbersome, especially when it needs to be done frequently or quickly. Additionally, many watches suffer from limitations regarding size. Many watch bands have only one size, and therefore can only be worn by one user on one part of the body. Moreover, even watches that can be configured for different sizes cannot be done so easily and must be manipulated before size change can be accomplished. Therefore, users of current wristwatches cannot quickly put the watch on or off their wrists, cannot slide the watch up their arms quickly, and cannot easily carry the watch on multiple parts of their body or share it with users who are of different sizes.
Additionally, most wristwatches do not facilitate manipulation or removal of the timepiece. Many users of wristwatches enjoy wearing a wristwatch so that the timepiece is on the outside of their wrist, but then sometimes on the inner side of their wrist. Most wristwatches are configured so that the timepiece can be viewed most easily when on the top of the wrist, which is a configuration where 12:00 is perpendicular to the bones of the arm. When a watch is worn on the inside of the wrist, however, this configuration of the timepiece is not the most ergonomically pleasant configuration to view the timepiece; instead, a configuration where 12:00 is parallel to the bones of the arm is best. Unfortunately most watches are unable to rotate within the watch strap and cannot be ideally configured. Therefore, what is needed are systems and methods for providing a wristwatch.